SSI News
Nuclear Thermal Rockets are on! NASA and DARPA award contracts for first DRACO demo spacecraft
While Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTR) concepts (e.g. the NERVA project) have been considered for space missions since the 1960s, their lack of suitable application combined with their technical risk has held back their actual use - until now. Seeing that a human...
Two Chinese launches in two days carrying multiple small sats to LEO & VLEO
Launching on 22 and 23 July 2023 two rockets from China carried a total of six satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) or very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The first mission lifted-off at 0507 GMT on 22 July and saw commercial Chinese company Galactic Energy using its...
Shenzhou 16 crew completes first EVA
On 20 July 2023, two Chinese astronauts (taikonauts) Jing Haipeng and Zhu Yangzhu of Shenzhou 16 began their first spacewalk from the Chinese Space Station (Tiangong) at approximately 0540 GMT when they exited the Wentian lab module. Crewmate Gui Haichao assisted with...
Falcon 9 launches Starlink Group 6-6 of 22 v2 Mini Starlink comsats
At 0050 GMT on 24 July a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket successfully launched 22 Starlink v2 Mini satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as Group 6-6 for SpaceX's second generation Starlink constellation. The pad used was Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40). The 22...
Kuaizhou-1A rocket carries four Tianmu-1 meteorological sats into LEO
At 0320 GMT on 20 July, a Kuaizhou-1A rocket lifted-off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, North-western China, carrying four satellites in to LEO. The satellites are believed to be GNSS occultation units for meteorological purposes for Chinese entity Xiyong...
Falcon 9 launches 15 v2-Mini Starlink satellites from Vandenberg as part of Group 6-15
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 part-reusable rocket from Vandenberg, California, USA at 0409 GMT on 20 July 2023. The launch vehicle was carrying Starlink Group 6-15 to orbit: a total of 15 v2-Mini Starlink communications satellites for SpaceX's...
Rocketlab launches Electron KS for satellite transport and first stage splashdown test
Rocket Lab achieved a successful launch – dubbed “Baby Come Back” – with an Electron KS at 0127 GMT on 18 July, from Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The launch vehicle carried seven satellites into orbit: a Telesat LEO 3 Vantage experimental communications satellite –...
Not a one-off: B1060 joins B1058 reusable stage on 16 landings as SpaceX puts the final set of initial v1.5 comsats (Group 5-15) into orbit
Following its launch from Cape Canveral, Florida, USA, the reusable Falcon 9 stage B1060 has joined B1058 on 16 successful launches and landings - the current record for SpaceX. It successfully landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas located downrange in the...
India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander/rover mission is launched on its way to the Moon
An LVM3-2 (GSLV 3-2) rocket successfully launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission from the Sriharikota (Satish Dhawan Space Centre), India, at 0905 GMT on 14 July. The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) mission consisted of a propulsion module, lunar lander and lunar...
Viasat-3 Americas antenna risks US$420 million insurance loss
Arcturus suffers unrelated solar array drive troubles GEO satellite operator Viasat Inc has finally confirmed that its recently launched Viasat-3 Americas High Throughput Ka-band communications satellite has suffered a serious blow. The satellite failed to properly...
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